Exploring Beyond
by Jane Meurig
Summary: More than 200 years after the Empire fell, a young Jedi, a descendant of Luke Skywalker, was given a mission. He was to explore the Milky Way, but he found something he didn't expect. Original characters and yummy plot devices.
1. Mission Announced

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Star Wars, except for my original characters and plots

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**A/N:** There's a lot to explain for this fanfic. 1) You must know that I have only seen the movies. I have not read whatever books come before or afterward. I have learned some information about them from friends, such as the fact the Leia establishes a new democracy, and Luke reestablishes the Jedi order or something of that sort. And that Leia marries Han, and Luke marries what's-her-face (name starts with an 'A' I believe, but I don't remember it was only told to me once). That's about it. So if I get some information wrong, ignore it, please. I'll eventually read the books and fix it myself...or leave it the way it is simply because I may like it better that way. 2) The name 'Karwyn' is my own variation on the Welsh name 'Carwyn.' I liked the way it looked better with the K so I changed it. It's pronounced 'Kahr-win.' 3) Please don't read this wrong. I know Andromeda is not the closest galaxy to the Milky Way, the line is '...the closest _large_ galaxy..." It's way bigger than the other nearby ones. 4) Beware my evil plot devices, use of the hero motif, and large amounts of angst. If you wish to avoid any one of those things, then maybe this isn't the best fanfic for you. 5) 5 is a good number to end with.

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"Karwyn Skywalker, the council requests your presence."

"What for?"

"An expedition of some sort," the servant answered. "Good luck, sir."

"Thank you." Karwyn went to the elevator and up a few floors in the second Jedi Temple. Long ago, more than two hundred years, the temple was razed by his great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Anakin Skywalker, then his great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Luke Skywalker rebuilt it. Such irony.

The young Jedi Knight walked into the council room where most of the masters were present, including his own master, Jordi Legarde. He walked to the center of the room and the council head, Ada-Mundi, stated, "Thank you for coming, young Skywalker."

Karwyn nodded.

"As you know, since the development of the Galaxy Transfer Portal, many have been sent to explore and research other galaxies about the universe."

He nodded again.

"But, our nearest large neighbor, the Milky Way Galaxy, has not yet been investigated."

He knew exactly what they wanted.

"We would like you to travel there and explore our neighbor galaxy. We believe there is a small planet in a medium-sized solar system that supports an intelligent species. To send many may invoke hostilities, which we would avoid."

"Then am I to go alone, though I am not yet a master?"

"Yes and no. You will still have communication with us. Regular reports will be expected, but if your signal is cut off, we will know. We have faith in you to make peace with these people."

"Thank you, master. When do I begin?"

"You will have company entering the galaxy itself, in a small cruiser. When you approach the planet you will take a Jedi fighter into the atmosphere."

"A fighter?"

"Just in case," Jordi whispered, grinning.

Karwyn rolled his eyes at his master and turned again to Ada-Mundi who answered, "It's small and light. We don't know what you may have to land on."

Karwyn nodded in acknowledgement.

"You're dismissed."

He bowed and walked back out. Not really sure what to do, he waited outside for Jordi to come out. It wasn't long before the council was adjourned, and the members filed out.

"Congratulations on your mission," Jordi said to Karwyn when they saw each other.

They began to walk toward the elevator. "Thank you, master. Did they say when I'm to leave?"

"Anxious, huh? Next week. Gives you time to get prepared."

"Are you coming with me?"

"Yep. And two scholars, though I'm not sure who. But you know you're still going onto the planet alone?"

"Yes. I feel it's going to be awkward at first."

"Remember you're a Skywalker, you can do any—"

"No more old Anakin jokes."

"Did I say anything?"

"You talk about it as if I were him."

"I didn't say anything! Besides, you'd be surprised at the similarities. It's not your fault a whole descending line of Jedi's decided to break the rules and have children. You got that trait, too."

"So now I'm a rule-breaker?"

"Admit it, you've always been a troublemaker. But I'm amazed at how you always get yourself out of it. But that's not all I was talking about. Everyone knows you've got uncontrollable, raging hormones."

Karwyn rolled his eyes. His master was normally like this. But there was something else on his mind.

Jordi saw the angst and tried to reassure his student, "It'll be fine. No fighting this time. That's a first. Well, not since the last war ended...it'll be an adventure. I know you'll enjoy that. You get to explore another galaxy, now there's an honor."

Karwyn gazed at the floor. "I sense that we'll miss something. Something bad will happen soon and we won't be here to help."

"But I feel that in spite of that, this mission will be important, and will change your life for the better."

"I suppose."

"I hear you'll be granted master when you return if all goes according to plan."

"They will?" He looked up hopefully.

Jordi chuckled. "C'mon. We've got a week to install the transfer portal to the cruiser."

"Yes, master."

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Thanks for reading/putting up with chapter 1. I know it's short. Please R&R! Reviews are greatly appreciated!


	2. Another Happy Landing

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Star Wars. I do own my original characters a plots.

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**A/N:** This chapter is much longer than the first, which was very short. All the usual stuff...R&R...bla bla bla...and lots of confusion and excitement. And a cliffhanger at the end. But chapter 3 is done, anyway, so it won't be a long wait for that. Enjoy!

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"You ready for this?" 

"I was born ready."

"Good."

Jordi, Karwyn, and two very old, unsociable scholars lifted of the landing platform in Coruscant, a week after the council that gave Karwyn this mission. The sleek, silver cruiser, modeled after the Naboo Royal Cruiser from the time of the Clone Wars, flew through the atmosphere and into space effortlessly.

Karwyn nodded and Jordi commanded, even though there was no crew, "Entering coordinates for the outer spiral of the Milky Way Galaxy." A pause while he did so. Then, with a glance at his young friend, "Activating Galaxy Transfer Portal."

A shiny, much too elaborate portal opened in front of them. Jordi scoffed, "Your ancestors had no trouble making things look superfluous."

"I think it looks nice with the blue, glowing edges," replied Karwyn with every possible hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Behind the portal could be seen more stars, but it was very, very far away and soon to be much, much closer. The ship went through the portal which disappeared behind them, and entered hyperspace to reach the solar system and planet desired. After a while they slowed down and in front of them was a small, blue planet. Earth.

The two Jedi glanced at each other and Karwyn commented, "It looks pretty nice. Lots of water."

"That is a heck of a lot of water."

"Here goes." Jordi patted him on the back. Karwyn got up and went to the door that had been added to allow the ship to carry his fighter. The hatch opened and then the hatch to his fighter underneath. He climbed in, settled down, and buckled up. He put on a headset, closed the hatch, separated himself from the ship where the other door automatically closed, and turned on the engine. He flew closer to the planet but not yet into it's atmosphere. He first scanned the planet for larger cities and found 'San Francisco' a reasonable destination. Contacting his master one more time he spoke into the headset, "I'm about to enter the atmosphere. I'm headed for San Francisco."

The headset answered back with Jordi's voice, "Good luck. May the force be with you."

"Thank you."

They disconnected and Karwyn sent a signal to the airport he found located within his destination, which he figured was a docking place for air and spacecraft when considering its name. Also when considering its name he realized it was his own language. What an odd thing for a completely separate galaxy to use the same language as another. So he thought he might as well say, "Requesting permission to land small spacecraft at San Francisco airport. Do you copy?"

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"Tom look at this! We're getting a signal from 10 miles elevation!"

"What?" the manager, Tom, questioned.

"Listen to this."

One of five men working night shift in the control tower at the San Francisco airport was excited as a kid with a new toy. He pressed a button and a signal was played back saying, "Requesting permission to land small spacecraft at San Francisco airport. Do you copy?"

"Spacecraft?" Tom asked.

All five men were now paying attention.

"What should I say?" the first man asked.

Tom took the headset, put it on and sent back, "How many aboard?"

The man's reply came. "One, and a droid."

The men whispered to each other. Was it real? Tom thought for a moment, then asked, "Alien spacecraft?"

The response did not come immediately, but finally the man's voice returned. "Confirmed."

The men gasped. It seemed unlikely an alien would speak perfectly good English, but if he didn't know that airports didn't normally land spacecraft, then he couldn't possibly _not_ be an alien.

Tom continued, "Permission to land granted, but wait for signal."

"Waiting for signal," came the answer.

"Any free airways?" Tom asked the men around him.

Another man sat back down and searched for the requested information. "Yes. Flight path 54 going into gate 12 is open."

"Good. Send him the coordinates." Into the headset again Tom stated, "We're sending you the coordinates to follow, you may land at gate 12."

After another moment the alien confirmed, "Coordinates received. Now following flight path 54. Over and out."

Tom took off the headset and wiped his brow. "I gotta see this." The five men sent the message to the airport executive and all the main building that a spacecraft was going to land at gate 12, exited the tower and ran to find out what would happen next.

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Karwyn sighed. He'd done it. He entered the coordinates given to him into the fighter's system and started to follow the path. "We did it, R2," he exclaimed to the droid unit.

His exclamation was met with excited beeping and Karwyn smiled. He had done it. Thank God they spoke the common language of the galaxy, or he may have never achieved what he did. His ship descended quickly and slowed as it approached the ground. A long lane extended forward, which slightly confused him that there was no actual platform. But it went toward a large building, so he flew low over the lane until he reached what must have been the airport headquarters or something. He saw a massive protrusion from the building that had "Gate 12" painted across it, so he approached it and landed. But already people were crowding around the craft as he lowered it and had to be extra careful so he wouldn't crush anyone. But everyone was safe and the young Jedi opened the hatch and jumped out of the small fighter, landing gracefully on the ground. He didn't want to appear hostile, so he set his lightsaber on the ground and held his hands up shoulder-height, palms out. "Uh, hello."

All the surrounding faces had mouths agape and wide eyes. Many more were staring through windows in the building ahead. A wheeled vehicle of some sort with 'News 10' painted all over it and a satellite protruding from the top sat nearby. Cables from it led to a large camera and crew that was getting nearer by the second.

Five men in uniform stood closest and one of them picked up the lightsaber. Karwyn was about to protest when the camera came right up close and a man with a microphone shoved it in front of his face and asked, "Where are you from?"

Karwyn quickly looked side to side, then at the man with the mic and answered slowly, "I'm here from the Andromeda galaxy to find other life forms, as I...I see I have." The man who picked up his lightsaber ignited it and everyone around looked amazed and whispered to each other. He moved it around, then faster to make whooshing noises and everyone remained dumbstruck. Karwyn could hear some words, like "Star Wars" and, to his astonishment, "lightsaber." But it was dangerous for anyone but a Jedi to wield a lightsaber, and this man obviously wasn't one, so Karwyn turned to him and pleaded, "Could you not...please don't touch that."

The man deactivated it and put it back on the ground to much of the audience's dismay, but Karwyn nodded a thank you. As he turned back, the man with the mic interrogated him again. "What's your name? How'd you get here? Are you human? You speak English, how is it possible?"

Now he was too close. He may have landed safely, but Karwyn hadn't realized that perhaps the people would be interested in him. But he couldn't take it anymore. Fear was not an emotion he was familiar with, but he was beginning to feel it. Leaving the ship and his lightsaber where they were, he ran for it. Past the man with the mic, under the camera, through the crowd, across a field, along a road, and into the city. It was bitter cold and windy, and smelled a little like fish, but Karwyn kept going. He got strange stares, probably because his clothes were so different from others. He didn't run for very long, since no one was following him for some reason. He wandered aimlessly, then felt something in the force. The presence of someone nearby that was full of potential. He followed his feelings to a large building, inside, up many floors, through a cold hallway. And finally a door with a number. It was locked. And inside it was dark. Next to the door was a button, which he pushed. Inside, it rang.


	3. Unreal Reality

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Star Wars. You know the deal.

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**A/N:** Her name is Irish and it's pronounced "Ash-ling." That's why so goes by "Ash" for short. I go a little bit back and forth between what the two of them are thinking, but there's more Aisling thoughts in this chapter than Karwyn. Mwahahaha more plot devices. And the chapters in this fanfic have gotten progressively longer so far. I don't know how long the next one will be, but this one's pretty long compared to the first. Lots of dialogue, but when two very intelligent people who talk and think a lot meet each other, they do even more talking and thinking combined.

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The doorbell rang. Someone knocked. Aisling's ears woke up but not the rest of her. She had only gone to sleep an hour before. But it was winter in San Francisco, and whoever was knocking at her door shouldn't have to freeze waiting for her. She clambered out of bed and looked at her bedside table to find that it was 2:12 am. She turned on the light, rubbed her eyes and shouted back at the door, "I'm coming!" As she passed the bathroom she took a moment to splash her face with cold water. It helped wake her up a little, but she couldn't help being a bit groggy. She reached for the apartment door and opened it to see a young man, probably her age, standing tall in a full-fledged Jedi costume. "Halloween was three months ago," she stated to the confused man.

He looked more confused after she said it. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I don't know – I'm not sure—"

"You look freezing," she interrupted. "Come on in." She stepped aside and he walked through the doorway. He stared around the room for a second, looking like he'd never seen an apartment before. Aisling had her lips slightly parted in curiosity as he was dressed like a Jedi from Star Wars, which was one of her favorite movies. Perhaps he was an obsessed fan that had to wear a costume everywhere he went, maybe he was on his way to a late New Year's party. But he looked more lost and confused than anything. She finally couldn't stand the silence and decided to cut through it. "I don't mean to be rude, but who are you...and what are you doing here...dressed up like Obi-Wan Kenobi...at two o'clock in the morning?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi?" he asked, and with no sarcasm or harshness in his voice went on, "Do I look like him or something? I don't know how accurate history book pictures are, if he—"

"History books?" Aisling scoffed. "Why would Obi-Wan Kenobi be in history books?"

"He's a legend!" he argued, raising his voice. "You said his name first. Don't you know the story?"

"Of course I know the story, because he's a made-up character in a movie series called Star Wars directed by..." She stopped. He thought Obi-Wan was real? Thinking he may not make the connection, she asked slowly, "Have you, by any chance, heard of George Lucas?"

The young man nodded his head. "He was a legend, too! But...he disappeared 50 years ago. What's he have to do with..." his voice faded before he finished the sentence. Aisling sat down at the kitchen table and rubbed her temples, thinking hard. Then he spoke again. "It may sound strange asking but I need to clarify. This is the Milky Way Galaxy, isn't it?"

She lifted her eyebrows. It did sound strange asking. "Of course. On the only planet that supports life according to some scientists."

He let out a forced laugh. "There's plenty of planets out there that support life."

Another silence fell, in which Aisling kept thinking. It was far too early to be thinking that hard, but she couldn't help it. That's what she lived to do. It was part of her nature to always be thinking. _He thinks it's real. That's ridiculous. He's probably some over obsessed fan that drove himself crazy and started thinking the whole thing actually happened. Or he's just messing with me. Then again, it was a very good act if that was so. And I don't know him, so what purpose would be served in that? It seems so real. And he looks like an intelligent person. _The young man observed her meager living space with awe rather than disgust, and took in every possible bit of information. Not to mention his posture was tall and the very air around him was filled with an invisible force. _The force...god, Ash, don't get caught up in this. It can't be real._

She had to know. So she broke the silence once again. "Could you answer my first two questions still?"

"Yes. I'm Karwyn."

"Aisling. Ash for short." She thought of shaking hands, but decided against it.

He nodded. Now that that ground was settled he moved on. "I'm not totally sure why I'm here of all places. I know how I got here, just not why."

"Do explain."

"It's a long story."

"I've got time." Aisling had to know, and it would reveal how real he was. She motioned for him to sit across the table from her and he did.

Karwyn figured he might as well tell her. She seemed kind and mostly understanding so far. Besides, he wouldn't lie, so he began, "It was strange, I went through the portal—"

"Sorry, I'm interrupting already. Portal?"

"Yes, a Galaxy Transfer Portal." His response was met by a not blank, but definitely confused stare. "Luke Skywalker invented it 60 or so years ago...it's been upgraded since."

"Luke Skywalker?"

"The second."

"You can transfer between galaxies?"

"It's nothing new, I said it was invented 60 years ago."

"Before George Lucas supposedly disappeared."

"Yes...I don't know why no one thought of that before. How did you—"

"George Lucas lives on this planet. May I ask why he's a legend?"

"He was a storyteller, and he saved the galaxy by—why am I telling you this anyway?"

"George Lucas is the reason anyone knows anything about your galaxy. He made movies—"

It was his turn to interrupt. "Movies?"

Aisling hoped he would know at least one name for it. She listed, "Feature film? Cinematography? Motion picture?"

"Ah, yes. He made them?"

"People here use them for entertainment, and George Lucas was a director. And one of the things he made was a series about Anakin Skywalker's life, his becoming Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker's becoming a Jedi. It's called Star Wars." She saw recognition in his eyes. He certainly had heard the story, but she thought perhaps he'd heard the name as well.

"Wow. That's half the famous history records right there."

"Except, everyone else thinks it's just a made up story that came out of George Lucas' head. And his writers. I don't know how accurate it is, since I've never heard of it being real until now." She admitted, "And I'm still not sure whether you're just fooling around, mentally crazy, or actually telling the truth."

He shook his head. "Jedi don't lie." So Karwyn thinks he's a Jedi, Aisling thought.

She sighed. "I'm sorry...you never got to finish your story of how you landed here."

"Indeed. I took the portal from Andromeda to the Milky Way, and I'm supposed to be in the outer edges of the galaxy, if the portal was correct."

"It was."

"Good. So we found the nearest solar system, and this planet. I looked for big cities with the ship's scanner and found one called 'San Francisco.' I thought it would be more safe sitting in a bay like it is and it had something called an 'airport' which I assume is a place for air and spacecraft to land."

"Half right," Aisling corrected.

"Which is what I discovered when I sent the signal. It went through but I'm not sure they could read it. I entered the atmosphere to try again and I got back a question asking me to confirm myself as alien spacecraft. Since I suppose I am alien to this planet, I confirmed. They let me land though I had to be careful since they were closely surrounding me. I did my best not to appear hostile, like putting down my lightsaber when I stepped out."

"Oh, no. There had to be some Star Wars fans in that crowd."

"Yes, you see, they picked it up and lit it and started swinging it around wildly talking about something called Star Wars. Now I'm glad you explained that."

"You've no idea what this stirs up. People here have never had solid proof of life forms on other planets yet. Heck, we haven't even gotten people past the moon."

"Really? It must be so confining, only being able to go as far as the moon."

"And very few have been able to do even that. It is rather confining, I suppose."

"I love flying. I don't know what I'd do living here."

"You'd become a jet pilot."

"Hmm?"

"You don't get to go into space or anything, but it's practically the same thing."

"But that's the whole adventure of it! Wide open space with the occasional asteroid field or planet..." Karwyn drifted off in thought.

"Not with the technology we have. Compared to yours it's probably primitive, but they go up in shuttles and there's all these complications."

He came back and answered, "Strange. I've found right away the technology is different, but not primitive. I guess there's things your people haven't made yet, but there seems to be a good deal of technology. Others that have transferred galaxies come back with all these stories about landing in the middle of forests, no intelligent species, and where there are they never speak the language. But here is different. I must say I was surprised that people here speak the same language."

"That is odd. Across galaxies...I still don't find it believable. But please continue your story."

"Well, after they started interviewing me, I had to get away, so I ran. People started shouting but they didn't all go after me. I think they were scared."

"Interviewing you—they had cameras?"

"Yes."

"Did they have 'News 10' written all over them?"

"Yes."

She sighed and walked to the TV, which she turned on. It was already on the news channel and it was just about to start playing his story.

The news anchor finished just as it was turned on, "...prices rising across the country. And now we have a very interesting story. Solid proof of alien life forms? Tell us, Jeff."

Aisling sat down on the couch in front of the TV set and motioned for Karwyn to sit down, too. The screen showed Jeff at the airport. "Thank you, Katie. At 1:43 this morning a spacecraft sent a signal to this airport requesting permission to land. Here it is behind me and it's quite something. Then a man walked out of the ship. We were lucky enough to get footage of this event.

Jeff was replaced by a video of nine men standing around the spacecraft that appeared to be a combination of a Jedi fighter and an X-wing. Karwyn clambered out and leapt to the ground, where he put his lightsaber and slowly raised his hands. After a moment he said, "Uh, hello."

One of the nine men surrounding him picked up the lightsaber totally awestruck. Aisling lifted her eyebrows in amusement.

The camera got closer to the scene. The man holding the lightsaber activated it and people all crowded around him, staring at it, making comments about Star Wars. Karwyn looked a bit perplexed and distressed. They started crowding around him and asking him questions. People in the airport were staring through the windows in shock, and more people outside began to make a large circle around the ship and take pictures. The camera was up close now, and Jeff pushed through and held the microphone up to Karwyn's face. Jeff asked, "Where are you from?"

"I'm here from the Andromeda galaxy, to find other life forms, as I...I see I have." He turned to the other men and interrupted their fascinated attempts to examine his lightsaber, "Could you not...please don't touch that."

They put it down and Jeff continued his interrogation, "What's your name? How'd you get here? Are you human? You speak English, how is it possible?"

Karwyn looked embarrassed now and slipped around Jeff, under the camera and ran. The camera turned around to see him running at top speed into the city. People saw him running away and shouted but Jeff turned to the camera aghast. The footage stopped and Jeff was no longer at the scene. A different woman was in his place. "We're back, live at the scene. After the man ran away, he left this," she paused to point at his lightsaber on the ground, "They have not yet examined the ship thoroughly, but DNA samples were found and are being studied now to find out if he's human or not. Back to you, Katie."

The camera was back at the station showing Katie, who said, "Wow, can you believe it? If that's real, then George Lucas may have a thing or two to say."

Her fellow anchors nodded and started a small conversation, but Aisling turned the TV off with the remote.

"They're testing my DNA?" Karwyn asked.

"Apparently."

He had his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Aisling wanted to comfort him at least a little, but didn't think it would be proper to show affection. So she got up, walked to the kitchen, and began to make some chicken noodle soup. It was the best thing she could think of.

Aisling still couldn't quite believe that he was a Jedi from the Andromeda galaxy. She didn't know if the Star Wars trilogies even happened _there_, if at all. The beginning of the movie says, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." But Andromeda was the biggest close galaxy to the Milky Way. She figured the line made for better storytelling. But no matter how much she wanted to believe all this was happening, she thought it was a dream, or that the news was a joke and Karwyn was just a random Star Wars fan on his way to a late New Year's costume party. In spite of all the evidence – the lightsaber, the ship – she couldn't believe it. It was only on TV anyway. And how likely was it for someone from another galaxy to speak English? He had to be fake. But there he was sitting in her living room with a force-filled presence and the outfit to prove it. He was too real. The realest person she'd ever met.

The chicken soup was done, so she poured the hot deliciousness into two bowls and handed one to Karwyn. _What an odd name. Then again, so is mine_. He took it and stared at it for a moment, then took a bite. His face lit up and he slowly savored the next several bites.

Aisling sat back down on the sofa and ate her own soup. It made her feel better, too. All the confusion was washed away with the simplicity of chicken noodle. When they'd both finished, Karwyn smiled and sighed contentedly. "Thank you. I haven't had real food in a while. It does take time to travel through space, even at light speed. I feel much better now." He yawned and rested his head on the back of the couch.

Aisling was tired, too. But she couldn't let him freeze to death sleeping outside. She took his empty bowl and hers to the sink and set them aside. Then with all the guts she had, offered, "You can sleep here for the night."

"That's very kind of—" he yawned again and laid down across the sofa and fell asleep instantly. Aisling drifted to her own bed and turned off the light. She closed her eyes and slept without a single dream or disturbance.


End file.
